


The Mighty Crash

by viceversa



Series: Cooper [3]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-25 19:40:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16667047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viceversa/pseuds/viceversa
Summary: Scully is having a bad morning. Mulder brought a surprise to the office. Skinner is not amused... or is he?





	The Mighty Crash

Scully’s morning was not going well. 

It had been days since she’d been with Mulder outside of work. At first it was just a normal night or two apart – they weren’t living together and they still needed their own space. They saw each other almost every day at work anyway. But then plans clashed, Scully’s mom wanted to have dinner, Langley’s birthday party was guys-only; it went on and on. 

Scully went to bed the night before in a bad mood. She had fully planned on staying at Mulder’s but when she called him to ask about dinner he’d basically rejected her offer to come over and hung up on her. Okay, it wasn’t really that harsh, but it was abrupt and left Scully feeling more than a little off balance. Was something going on? She’d gotten no bad vibes from him during work, nothing overtly wrong about the phone calls that hadn’t been cut off abruptly. But, trying to assuage her insecure fears so she could sleep, Scully promised herself that she would corner him in the morning and figure out what was going on. 

But the morning came and slightly went and Scully woke up late. The anxiety spiral of the night before distracted her from setting her alarm. Running late put a horrible feeling in Scully’s stomach, having grown up under a strict early-is-on-time lifestyle. She half-assed her hair, her makeup, and almost ran out the door in two different black pumps. So, resigned to an already shitty day, Scully arrived at work late, rumpled, and braced for a fight about the longevity of her relationship with Mulder. 

The basement hallway seemed to stretch out in front of her. She paused at the hallway coffee cart, pouring a lukewarm cup that she could chug purely for the caffeine. As Scully neared the office she noticed that the door was shut. It was usually at least half open as soon as they got in in the morning, and Mulder easily could’ve beaten her to work this morning. The light was on, so he must be in. 

Curiouser and curiouser. 

Scully opened the door and expected to see Mulder at his desk, but was met with an empty chair. 

“Shut the door!” Mulder’s voice coming from somewhere to her right startled her into action. She slammed the door and moved toward his voice, only to look down and see him crouching under a table by the far wall. 

“Mulder, what the hell?” Scully moved closer, depositing her bag and jacket along the way.

Mulder’s response was muffled as he tried to fit his entire body under the table, knocking over empty file boxes as he did. Scully took a second to look around for context clues as to what made Mulder this insane today and immediately figured out at least half of what was going on. 

Cooper’s litter box, food and water bowls, and favorite toys covered the minimal floorspace. Scully downed half her disgusting coffee, needing the caffeine to hit her bloodstream as soon as possible, and sat the cup onto the desk so she could have both hands free to put on her hips. She took a fortifying breath and turned to face Mulder again, not at all distracted by the way his ass was wiggling in the air.

“Mulder!” she half shouted, trying to get him to crawl back out. “Why is Cooper here?”

Mulder’s form slumped and he backed out not un-gracefully, turning to sit on the floor instead of getting all the way up. He looked flushed from the exertion of whatever he was doing. 

“My landlord is doing his yearly inspections on all the units today. Technically, as I found out last night after a frantic search for and re-read of my lease, I’m not supposed to have pets other than fish, or at least he hasn’t cared about the fish. And,” Mulder sucked in a breath to continue his rant, “I’m still in hot water about the waterbed incident. And the Pagett incident. And let’s not forget the dead guy and the gunshots and the multiple other horrible things that have happened in my apartment. I spent all last night cleaning and preparing for the visit so I won’t get evicted. Cooper can’t be there, so he’s here, and with all of his stuff.”

The pieces clicked together in Scully’s head. He wasn’t upset with her last night, he was just rushed and busy. Why he didn’t just come to her apartment or ask her for help, she didn’t know. Mulder got up and finally looked at Scully, noticing something was off. Scully cut off whatever comment he was about to make.

“Mulder why hasn’t Cooper been caught in your apartment yet? He meows. Loudly. And you’ve had him for six months. You don’t exactly keep it a secret.”

“I,” he looked askance and cautiously moved closer. “I have no answer for that. Maybe my landlord made up the inspection this time on purpose. I swear he’s got it out for me.” 

Scully glared at him on his approach. She didn’t really want to be glaring at him, or at anything for that matter, but her mood had gone from bad to worse and was stubbornly sticking to worse even though she had nothing to be upset about anymore. Her whole body was tense and achy and just off. Damn anxiety spiral hangover.

“Hey,” he reached her and clasped his warm, heavy hands on her shoulders. The weight was comforting, seeping slowing through her muscles. Something registered in her brain, comfort maybe, and loosened the tension of her neck. Maybe this day wouldn’t be so shitty after all. “Is something wrong? Is it, uh, my fault?” he asked sheepishly, only half kidding. 

Scully deflated under his hand, muscles practically creaking with the release of stiffness, the wave of anxiety and stress finally crashing against the shore and starting to level out. She leaned slightly into his chest, drained. “No, you’re fine. It’s me. I-I didn’t sleep well last night.”

Mulder brought her the remaining distance and into a hug that Scully reciprocated, already feeling the pounding behind her temples recede in his embrace. 

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. He knew as well as she did that getting a good night’s sleep wasn’t a perk of this job, even though that’s not why she had trouble the night before. 

Scully wanted to cry. Sometimes she could get herself so worked up for no reason, with or without the help of month hormones. Or maybe the job made it all worse, made her more prone to feeling like this sometimes. Damn her anxiety, always making her assume the worst was happening and that the worst would be permanent. 

Mulder knew not to talk, or maybe didn’t know what else to say, so he just held her for little while, grounding the quiet calm of the room into their relationship and her very being for a fleeting second. It’s exactly what she needed.

“Scully,” he rumbled out in a breath, not meaning anything than saying her name. She felt it in his chest more than heard it and she resisted snuggling closer, knowing doing so would only lead to a harder time breaking apart. Their embrace was only disturbed by a gentle, yet familiar, sensation along Scully’s calves.

“Hey, I found Cooper.” Scully gestured with her head, and Mulder craned his neck to peer over her shoulder. 

“I knew he liked you more than me. I’ve been looking for him since we got in here.”

Scully huffed out a slight giggle, wondering how on earth a cat that practically hero worships his savior Mulder would ever like her as much. 

\- - -

Having a cat in the basement office definitely livened up the atmosphere. Once he got used to his new surroundings, Cooper was back to acting normal: wreaking havoc on everything around him. Just over six months old, he was so young, but growing so big, that the curious kitten in him had a larger, clumsier, and more destructive body to disrupt his surroundings with. 

Scully had the pleasure of receiving almost all of his attention after she broke her embrace with Mulder. Cooper demanded to be pet, played with, and final requisitioned her lap as a place to rest for a while, making her reach over his squirming body to read her emails and respond. The longer he was around her, the better Scully’s mood became. Maybe there was something to this pet therapy stuff she’d heard about.

The rest of the morning Cooper spent exploring. He went around every filing cabinet, sniffed the books lining the floor in the corner. Scully had to act fast to save some delicate scientific equipment from his wild tail, and Mulder was in the floor more than once picking up files he had knocked over.

At one point just before lunch, Cooper managed to make it to the high basement windowsill and look out at the street. It seemed to entertain him for a little while until he fell asleep, letting Mulder and Scully actually get some paperwork and research done and eat in relative comfort. The peace lasted for a fleeting two and a half hours. 

A mighty crash made both agents jump and turn to Cooper. In trying to leave the comfort of the windowsill, Cooper had misjudged some distances and stability of objects and managed to completely clear a table full of things. A plaintive meow reassured his owner that he was fine, but a few things he knocked over weren’t so lucky. 

It was Mulder’s turn to clean up and he picked through the mess with some exasperation as Scully looked on, amused. 

“Aw, Coop! You wrecked my globe!” Mulder cradled the cracked globe and looked at it as if he were holding the broken remains of a precious artifact. 

“It’s just a cheap globe Mulder. You’ve got like six more in this office alone.” Scully took pity on him and help with the pile, throwing away some trash and sunflower seed shells that had been lurking on the table for far too long while she was at it. She was just happy they weren’t growing anything. 

As Mulder picked up the last file he hissed in pain. Scully looked up just in time to see the blood start to gush from the side of his hand. Among the detritus was a framed picture that had broken its glass in the fall and caught Mulder just under his pinky down the side of his hand. 

Scully moved quickly, grabbing some tissues in one hand and hauling Mulder to the nearest desk lamp with the other. 

“Here, let me see if there’s any glass in it,” she explained. Mulder contorted his arm so she could get a look under the light, abjectly avoiding looking at his own blood. 

Cooper, startled from the sounds of distress issuing from his owner’s mouth, turned in circles near Mulder’s feet and meowed, wondering what was happening. 

“Kiss it better?” Mulder pouted. 

Scully ignored his comment, in full doctor mode. “I can’t see in this light, we’ll have to go to the down the hall.” Scully gently wrapped the hand in tissues and grabbed her omni-present medical bag from the bottom drawer of her desk. “Scoot.”

Mulder did as was told and went to the door, waiting for Scully so they could leave together and keep Cooper inside. The cat had no interest in the door any longer as he had rediscovered where his food dish was and was happily chopping away, showing no remorse for the calamity he’d caused just moments before. 

\- - -

While Scully was patching up Mulder’s hand in the bathroom, Walter Skinner made his way into the basement to see his favorite and most problematic agents about some missing expense reports. Instead of finding his agents where they should be, or even an empty office like he half expected, Skinner was surprised to see the usually messy office messier than usual and sprinkled with… were those cat toys?

Skinner walked in and, not seeing his agents anywhere to question, looked around for, well, a cat. He was not disappointed. Before he could begin a search in earnest, a fluffy gray cat darted at him from a dark corner. Skinner held back a flinch, he was an FBI agent after all, and the cat simply darted around his feet sniffing and rubbing against his legs. 

Not many people knew, and in reality, no one knew, but Skinner always liked cats. He found them grumpy, loyal, and fiercely independent. And, well, fluffy. 

“Hi there.” Skinner directed his comments toward the cat. “Where are your parents?”

Cooper, sensing to trust this tall man, meowed back and accepted a pat on the head. 

Thus was the start of a beautiful friendship.

\- - -

Newly bandaged and free of glass with a hand kissed better by none other than Dr. Scully herself, the basement dwelling agents returned to their office to find the door ajar. Scully saw it first and immediately panicked. 

“Mulder!” 

He launched himself in front of her to get to the door, hoping like hell that Cooper was in a food coma and didn’t realize freedom was possible. What he saw when he opened the door was much, much worse. Or better? 

Mulder froze in the doorway, eyes wide and Cooper’s name lodged in his throat. Scully saw a half second later and was similarly frozen, taking in the scene in front of them. 

Their boss, Walter Skinner, the one and only, was standing in front of the desk, holding Cooper in his arms. 

Seeing his agents standing dumbstruck in the doorway, Skinner rolled his eyes and pet the cat in his arms. Cooper was content, purring loud enough that they could hear from feet away. Skinner should have felt undignified, truly, but he didn’t. At least he didn’t let it show. Besides, it’s not like it was his cat that he brought into work. 

“Agents,” Skinner greeted. 

“Uh, hi, sir,” Scully managed to stutter out. “We can explain.”

“Please, do.” 

Mulder and Scully fully entered the office and shut the door behind them, Mulder restraining himself from going to take Cooper from Skinner’s arms. He was silent and distracted, feeling protective of his cat and trying to figure out how this would play out. 

Scully lightly elbowed Mulder in the side and he jumped back to reality.

“Well, sir,” Mulder started. “That is my cat. His name is Cooper. Funny story, actually, on how I rescued him. It was a dark and stormy night—”

“Mulder, I don’t care how you got the cat, I just want to know why you found it pertinent or reasonable to bring him here. To your place of work.”

Taking pity on Mulder’s wide eyes, the poor man had just been subjected to the sight of his own blood after all, Scully spoke up. 

“It’s temporary, sir, just for today. You see, Agent Mulder’s apartment building is – “ 

“I’ll stop you there, Agent Scully,” Skinner sighed and gently placed Cooper back on the floor. Cooper didn’t scamper off, as he did when Mulder put him down, but instead stayed close and rubbed against Skinner’s legs. Skinner didn’t mind. “Now, if we could get back to work?” 

Mulder and Scully watched half in awe as Skinner nonchalantly moved to the desk where he had placed a file earlier and Cooper followed close at his heels. Mulder noticed there was a good amount of cat hair from his knees down. Cat hair. On Skinner. Scully was mainly happy they weren’t getting chewed out for bringing a cat to work, but also fascinated at the display before her.

“This,” Skinner emphasized with the file in his hands, “contains a list of missing expense reports from the last six months. I need them filed by the end of the week, no exceptions. Understood?”

“Meow” supplied Cooper, answering for the still nonplussed agents. 

“Excellent.” Skinner put the file down and went to the door, Cooper following all the way as if Skinner held the secret of all cat treats in his hand. Skinner paused before opening, gently nudging Cooper away from the exit with his foot. “Just… keep Cooper where he belongs. At home.”

With that, Skinner left the room, twisting gracefully somehow to keep Cooper from chasing after him. Mulder and Scully looked at the door, then at Cooper, then at each other. 

“I’m sorry,” started Mulder, “but does Skinner wash his clothes in catnip, or does my cat just hate me?”

Scully broke, letting a giggle burst out. Mulder laughed too. Then Cooper, who had been by the door as if waiting for his new friend to come back, let out an obnoxiously loud caterwaul and pawed at the door. They dissolved into laughter, doubling over from the exertion. Scully wiped a tear from her eye and leaned on Mulder for support. 

“Who – who – who knew that Skinner was a cat person!” 

“God, Scully, did you see the cat hair all over him? Maybe he’d cat sit for us.”

They both composed themselves after losing it a few times as Cooper refused to abandon his post, waiting for the second coming of his new best friend. They were about to go back to their respective desks when Scully stopped Mulder with a hand on his arm. 

She paused for half a second, gathering the courage to ask something that had been on her mind all day. 

“Hey, uh, why didn’t you just bring him to my place last night? You know I can have pets, after Queequeg. You didn’t need to bring him here.”

Mulder relaxed his shoulders, tense any time Scully had confronted him since they got together. “I don’t really know. I didn’t think you’d want me showing up on a Sunday night with my cat. School night, and all that.” Mulder had trouble making eye contact, feeling a little sheepish. “I was just going to wait it out here a couple days then sneak him back home.”

Scully looked up at him, wondering where she went wrong in implying he wouldn’t be welcome at her home under any circumstance, ever. She would have to correct that assumption. She leaned up on her tip toes and kissed him gently on the lips, lingering only a moment. They were at work after all.

“Mulder,” she smiled just so she could see him smile back. “Bring the cat to my apartment. And then go to your apartment,” she paused, feeling mischievous, “and pick up some clothes for a few days, and come back to mine. I’m not looking after Coop myself.”

Mulder held his smile, only breaking to kiss her back, slightly longer and more inappropriately than before, not that she was complaining. 

Cooper, finally sensing that the man with the big arms wasn’t coming back any time soon, gave up his post at the door and turned back to his humans who were locked in an embrace. They radiated happiness and contentment, not like earlier that day, and Cooper was satisfied. He let them be happy and wandered off, remembering something shiny he had yet to play with in the back.

**Author's Note:**

> as always, thank you to @alienassmuffin on tumblr, the most devoted fan of cooper (after skinner...)


End file.
